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The mini-Annals of Improbable Research ("mini-AIR")
Issue number 2005-02
February 2005
ISSN 1076-500X
Key words: improbable research, science humor, Ig Nobel, AIR, the
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A free newsletter of tidbits too tiny to fit in the
Annals of Improbable Research (AIR),
the journal of inflated research and personalities
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2005-02-01 TABLE OF CONTENTS
2005-02-01 Table of Contents
2005-02-02 Imminent Events
2005-02-03 What's New in the Magazine
2005-02-04 Project Cuppa, First Serving
2005-02-05 British Cuppa Demos?
2005-02-06 The Mystery of Life
2005-02-07 Growing Hair
2005-02-08 Poet Exhaustion
2005-02-09 RESEARCH SPOTLIGHT: Men + Women + Math
2005-02-10 On Our Blog
2005-02-11 MAY WE RECOMMEND: Michael Jackson, Snakes
2005-02-12 Improbable Research Events
2005-02-13 How to Subscribe to AIR (*)
2005-02-14 Our Address (*)
2005-02-15 Please Forward/Post This Issue! (*)
2005-02-16 How to Receive mini-AIR, etc. (*)
Items marked (*) are reprinted in every issue.
mini-AIR is
a free monthly *e-supplement* to AIR, the print magazine
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2005-02-02 Imminent Events
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 18 Improbable @ AAAS Meeting, Washington, DC
MARCH 11-20 Ig Nobel Tour of the UK
(see section 2005-12 below for details)
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2005-02-03 What's New in the Magazine
The Jan/Feb issue (vol. 11, no. 1) of the Annals of Improbable
Research is the special YAWNING Issue.
It will be emerge from the printer late this month.
Highlights include:
<> "On Yawning; or, The Hidden Sexuality of the Human Yawn,"
by Wolter Seuntjens
<> "Do Copied Citations Create Renowned Papers?"
by M.V. Simkin and V.P. Roychowdhury
<> "Experiments in Yawning," compiled by R.G. Briskett
<> "Textbook Disclaimer Stickers," by Colin Purrington
The table of contents (along with several of the articles) is at:
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2005-02-04 Project Cuppa, First Serving
Here are a few of the best early submissions for Project Cuppa.
Project Cuppa is our attempt to collect the best scientists' best
rituals for preparing tea or coffee.
My morning tea ritual:
Get out of bed at very last possible moment.
Put kettle on.
Have shower.
Make tea (mug + teabag + 1 teaspoon sugar + little milk).
Get dressed.
Drink tea.
Run out of door.
Arrive at work out of breath.
Make more tea.
Dr. John Mitchell
Laboratory Supervisor, IRC in Biomedical Materials
Queen Mary, University of London
It is not the brewing of the tea that is important. It is the receptacle
that is critical. A cup WITH a saucer! The saucer is required for the
following reasons;
1) when (yet again) I forget not to take it into the lab, there is no
evidence (tea stain) on the bench,
2) it permits me to pass as a member of the History faculty (they
provide better food at seminars),
3) it keeps the prodigious stacks of papers, western blots etc. on my
desk from having conspicuous rings on them,
4) it is yet another thing for me to lose (which keeps the students
amused).
David Elliott Ph.D.
Research Assistant Professor
Department of Cell Biology and Anatomy
University of Arizona
Professor Nick Phillips, the renowned holographer at De Montfort
University in the U.K., once told me his secret:
Unlike all other scientists, he washes out his cup after drinking his
coffee instead of before.
Stephen J. Hart
How can you contribute to Project Cuppa? Describe your tea or
coffee preparation ritual (brew it down to a description of fewer
than 80 words, please!), and email it to either:
PROJECT CUPPA (tea)
c/o
or
PROJECT CUPPA (coffee)
c/o
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2005-02-05 British Cuppa Demos?
Would you like (and be able to) demonstrate your Project Cuppa
entry on stage at one of the Ig-Nobel-Tour-of-the-UK events in
March? If so, please state concisely why this could and should
happen:
Project Cuppa (Demonstrably Good Role Model)
c/o
PS. There is of course an official British standard. See
This need not restrict you.
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2005-02-06 The Mystery of Life
Please join us on a historical quest. Some years ago the Monsanto
company advertised that "without chemicals, life itself would be
impossible."
Who is the author of this wonderfully vapid phrase? We would like
to know. If you know, please send the info to:
"Intelligent Designer of Life"
c/o
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2005-02-07 Growing Hair
There's a whole batch of new members in the Luxuriant Flowing Hair
Club for Scientists (LFHCfS). Admire them, if you will, at
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2005-02-08 Poet Exhaustion
There is no winner -- repeat, no winner -- for last month's
ELECTROCHEMICAL ZUCCHINI LIMERICK COMPETITION. Nobody produced a
limerick that, in the judges' view, successfully caught both the
spirit and letter of the classic report:
"Zucchini Crude Extract-Palladium Modified
Carbon-Paste Electrode for the Determination of
Hydroquinone in Photographic Developers,"
I. Da Cruz Vieira and O. Fatibello-Filho,
Analytica Chimica Acta, vol. 398, nos. 2-3,
November 2, 1999, pp 145-51.
Congratulations to Iolanda da Cruz Vieira and Orlando Fatibello-
Filho for having written a research report that virtually defies
limerickization.
The task, however, is not impossible.
Improbable Limerick Laureate, MARTIN I. EIGER came through in the
clutch. Here is his (possibly) heroic limerick:
Take a paste based on carbon, as shown,
Into which some palladium's thrown.
Into this, if you please,
Take zucchini and squeeze.
Now let's measure some hydroquinone!
Fearful of they know not what, the judges have requested that the
limerick contest be mothballed for a month or two.
Their wish is our command.
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2005-02-09 RESEARCH SPOTLIGHT: Men + Women + Math
Each month we select for your special attention a research report
that seems especially worth a close read. This month's pick:
"Influences of Lavender Fragrance and Cut Flower Arrangements on
Cognitive Performance," M. Liu, R.H. Mattson and E. Kim,
International Journal of Aromatherapy, vol. 14, no. 4, 2004, pp.
169-74. The authors, who are at Kansas State University in
Manhattan, Kansas, report that:
[The] effects of lavender fragrance and cut flower
arrangements on cognitive performance of university
students were examined by measuring their performance
of completing a mental arithmetic task. For female
participants, olfactory effects of the lavender fragrance
tended to enhance calculating speed and calculating
accuracy, and visual effects of the cut flower arrangements
significantly improved calculating speed. For male
participants, visual effects of the cut flower arrangements
tended to improve calculating accuracy.
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2005-02-10 On Our Blog
Here are some recent topics (a new one appears every weekday) in
our blog:
Egrets: I've Had a Few
Association of Dead People video
Microsoft scarfs down the European science community?
Boxing Chickens, Rats, Cats & Flies
Hallock's Flea-fest
... and many others
Read the blog via
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2005-02-11 MAY WE RECOMMEND: Michael Jackson, Snakes
MICHAEL JACKSON DERMATOLOGY
"Near-Infrared Spectroscopy for Dermatological Applications,"
Michael Jackson, et al., Vibrational Spectroscopy, vol. 28, no. 1,
28 February 2002, pp. 53-8.
INSERT/DELETE FUNCTIONS
"Demonstration of Oesophageal Reflux Using Live Snakes,"
A.C. Johnson and S. Johnson, Clinical Radiology, vol. 20, no. 1,
January 1969, pp. 107-9.
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2005-02-12 Improbable Research Events
==> For details and updates see
==> Want to host an event? 617-491-4437.
==>
AAAS ANNUAL MEETING, WASHINGTON, DC -- FRI, FEB 18, 2005
8:00 PM - 10:00 PM
Marriott Wardman Park Hotel, Wardman Room
Annual Improbable Research show as part of the annual meeting of
the American Association for the Advancement of Science
Featuring:
AIR editor MARC ABRAHAMS
Ig Nobel Prize winner JILLIAN CLARKE
(The 5-Second Rule for Dropped Food)
Ig Nobel Prize winner JIM GUNDLACH
(Effect of Country Music on Suicide)
Ig Nobel Prize winner JOHN TRINKAUS
(Things that annoy me)
Howard University's AFRO BLUE
performing "The Atkins Diet Opera"
COLIN PURRINGTON (Textbook disclaimer stickers)
SALLY SHELTON (Angels as Insects)
ERIC SCHULMAN (A Briefer History of Time)
ROBERT FRIEDEL (Pizza and Progress)
==> OPEN TO THE PUBLIC. BRING FAMILY AND FRIENDS.
IG NOBEL TOUR OF THE UK
for NATIONAL SCIENCE WEEK -- MARCH, 2005
OXFORD -- FRI, MARCH 11
DARESBURY LAB, WARRINGTON -- MON, MARCH 14
NOTTINGHAM TRENT UNIVERSITY -- TUE, MARCH 15
DANA CENTRE, LONDON -- WED, MARCH 16
(Further details to be announced soon)
MUSEUM OF SCIENCE, BOSTON, MA -- APR 1, 2005
I-CON 24, STONY BROOK, NY -- APR 8-10, 2005
NATIONAL WRITERS' WORKSHOP, HARTFORD, CT -- APR 16/17, 2005
IG NOBEL TOUR OF AUSTRALIA
for NATIONAL SCIENCE WEEK -- AUGUST, 2005
CASCADIACON, SEATTLE -- THURS, SEPT 1 - MON, SEPT. 5, 2005
FIFTEENTH 1ST ANNUAL IG NOBEL PRIZE CEREMONY -- OCT 6, 2005
Sanders Theatre, Harvard University.
Tickets will go on sale in August.
IG INFORMAL LECTURES -- OCT 8, 2005
MIT. Room and time to be announced.
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2005-02-13 How to Subscribe to AIR (*)
Here's how to subscribe to the magnificent bi-monthly print
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this newsletter).
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Send payment (US bank check, or international money order, or
Visa, Mastercard or Discover info) to:
Annals of Improbable Research (AIR)
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2005-02-14 Our Address (*)
Annals of Improbable Research (AIR)
PO Box 380853, Cambridge, MA 02238 USA
617-491-4437 FAX:617-661-0927
EDITORIAL: marca@chem2.harvard.edu
SUBSCRIPTIONS: air@improbable.com
WEB SITE:
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2005-02-15 Please Forward/Post This Issue! (*)
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------------- mini-AIRheads -------------
EDITOR: Marc Abrahams (marca@chem2.harvard.edu)
MINI-PROOFREADER AND PICKER OF NITS (before we introduce the last
few at the last moment): Wendy Mattson
WWW EDITOR/GLOBAL VILLAGE IDIOT: Amy Gorin
(airmaster@improbable.com)
COMMUTATIVE EDITOR: Stanley Eigen (eigen@neu.edu)
ASSOCIATIVE EDITOR: Mark Dionne
PSYCHOLOGY EDITOR: Robin Abrahams
CO-CONSPIRATORS: Alice Shirrell Kaswell, Gary Dryfoos, Ernest
Ersatz, S. Drew
MAITRE DE COMPUTATION: Jerry Lotto
AUTHORITY FIGURES: Nobel Laureates Dudley Herschbach, Sheldon
Glashow, William Lipscomb, Richard Roberts
(c) copyright 2005, Annals of Improbable Research
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2005-02-16 How to Receive mini-AIR, etc. (*)
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